RoadTrip: Day 11

We woke up to a brisk Colorado morning that we had become accustomed to after spending 8 of the first 10 nights of our trip in Colorado (the other two were Missouri and New Mexico.)  We felt that we had seen enough of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in our rapid lookout point parade the night earlier so we pack up camp and hit the road.  We knew we wanted to see Arches National Park in Utah so we started that way.

Arches National Park Scenery

It was a relatively easy and uneventful 3 hour drive to Arches.  We did have a minor quest to find a gas station hot dog. Well maybe not we, more like Billy was on a quest, but I found my hot dog at a gas station a few miles outside of the park and I couldn't have been happier.  We pulled in to the park and the first thing we discovered was that it was teeming with people.  There were tons of people everywhere.  We had become used to the weekday crowds in some of the lesser known parks and were a tad anxious with all the people and cars.

Park Avenue in Arches National Park

Delicate Arch on the Welcome Sign

We found out that Delicate Arch, although maybe the most famous arch within the park, is also a difficult hike and therefore would cut out all the weak people.  Delicate Arch was a featured shot during the Salt Lake Olympics and is on the Welcome to Utah sign. 


It also was June 1st, sunny, and the middle of the day so it was hot; this we were hoping would cut out even more of those weaklings.  It was a bit of drive in to the park to Delicate Arch and after a few stops along the way to snap some interesting photos we reached the trailhead we were looking for.  We filled up a couple extra water bottles, to be on the safe side, tied up our boots and started the trek over the red rocks to Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch

As expected, it was toasty and we quickly became red-faced and sweaty.  This didn't stop us or hardly even slow us down as we scrambled over piping hot rocks following the cairns set up to mark the route.  Normally trails don't need cairns because the trail is well established the dirty or gravel but when the trail is on a giant rock it becomes difficult to stay headed in the right direction.  We saw a few other groups headed the opposite direction and they looked beaten, this is always discouraging because you know that you are going to the same place they just came from.  There was very little shade to come by so we marched on, finally reaching the Delicate Arch as we polished off our first set of water bottles.

Pondering Delicate Arch's Beauty

Delicate Arch is quite an exquisite rock formation with an incredible view.  It felt like something special to have made the hike out to this place.  There were a few other people that were doing the same things we were but one group really stood out amongst the others.  There were 2 couples that were at least 70 years old, they were all wearing pants, and the two gentlemen were literally jumping around from boulder to boulder.  It was amazing to watch as they moved so freely as seemingly such an advanced age.  We talked with them a bit about their trip and it seemed like they had wanted to do something like this for a long time and had decided that they weren't going to let their ages stop them from doing anything.  We could only hope to be so active when we are in our 70s.

Creepy Eyes of "Windows Arch"

The hike back to our car was much easier and as most hikes go seemed to get done much quicker than the hike out.  We quickly took off our boots as our feet were on fire and put on flip flops to let those puppies breathe.  On our way back out of the park we stopped off at Double Arch, Windows, and a few others to get a feel for some of the 'easier' hikes.  Windows looks a lot like creepy eyes which we discovered as we hiked around the back of the formation to get away from the hoards of people.  Double Arch looked awesome but there were even more people there and we were starting to get hungry and tired of being in the sun.

Double Arch with a Crowd of People

We left the park and drove the couple miles to the town of Moab where we found a campsite that had showers, laundry, and wi-fi, practically like 5th Avenue.  We were dirty and dusty from all the red sand and couldn't wait to get in the showers but we also were getting low on clean clothing so a load of laundry was first to get washed.  I took a cool shower as the Utah summer had made me feel medium-rare inside and boy did I feel refreshed afterwards.

We had some peppered chicken in a ceasar salad for a late lunch and also snacked on some chips and salsa.  After we finished with our laundry and packed away the clean clothes, we decided to find out what Moab had to offer.  We found Moab Brewery, which seemed right up our alley.  After trying a few beers and sharing an appetizer of fries we spotted the flyer for the Moab Rodeo and it just so happened to be going on that evening, and starting in 20 minutes.  We quickly paid our tab and left to find the rodeo.

Megan claims that she has been to many rodeos back in her day, but this was my first.  It was non-stop excitement!  They had bull riding and bronco riding and roping and team roping and women's barrel racing and kids sheep riding events.  In between events they would have raffles and comedians and the greased pig competitions.  I didn't even want to walk away to get another beer because I was afraid I was going to miss something.  And obviously I missed something because I don't understand how the scoring works except for the barrel racing and the greased pig events.  Fastest to race around the barrels or if you have the pig, you win.  Plus, now I can honestly use the saying "this isn't my first rodeo."

Moab Rodeo

When the rodeo was done, the fun ended, and so did our day.

RoadTrip Day 2: Death by Kansas

We started day 2 after a delightful first night sleeping on the ground.  The sleeping pads worked out nicely and we found that by putting a blanket over our 2 pads they stayed together and the extra blanket made it feel almost like a bed.

We had stocked up on little drinks and snacks from the grocery store in an attempt to not spend all of our money at gas stations.  We also had reusable water bottles that we had decided would be the best way to stay hydrated, cut down on garbage, save room in the already full car, and save a dollar or three along the way.  By my estimate that is a Win, Win, Win, Win Situation.

We had breakfast while on the road as the mountains were calling our names only 1 state to our west.  After finishing our dry as sand granola bars with copious amounts of water we headed away from the sun, full of vigor.  We used GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas within 20 miles of us; it is important to drive 4 miles out of the way to save 2 cents a gallon and with the tank holding 12 gallons that is almost a whole quarter, Audrey.

We also took a look at the Roadside America app, which I mentioned has the crazy, quirky, interesting "tourist" spots.  Well near Kansas City there the famous Car-Henge (Stonehenge made of old cars), the Negro League Baseball Museum (lucky for Megan we hit town when they were closed), and the World's Largest Ball of String.  We had to see this!

Largest Ball of String

Let me tell you a little about the World's Largest Ball of String or WLBS; it is NOT TWINE!  Don't let anyone confuse the two.  Twine and string are not even in the same ballpark, the WLBS is offended if you think twine is really the same thing.  You may be thinking to ask someone that has been to the WLBS, what is the difference. My answer: I have no idea. But there it is, in a lonely corner of some restaurant's patio.  We got out, took a picture, read about how some bored child somewhere started making this ball and didn't stop until he was 59 years old, and then jumped back in the car before anyone could stop us to talk.

I think this was about the time I had to start limiting Megan's use of the Roadside America app.  But we were heading in the direction towards Colorado, already close to 20 miles in to Kansas with beautiful fields of amber grain waving; we'd be there in no time. . . . .

What I meant was there was no time that could measure how long it takes to drive across Kansas.

We started off by listening to the one Kansas City station I enjoy, the comedian station.  They play short clips from comedians' standup routines.  It is really enjoyable and I have to admit to Kansas that I caught myself smiling for portions of that drive.  But before we knew it, the station was lost to the airwaves and we were on our own.

We listened to some country radio, but too much talk about corn prices and soybean plantings for it to be a long term solution to our Kansas boredom.  We played the Alphabet Game, in order finding words that start with each letter.  Luckily, Salina, Kansas has a zoo or we might still be playing.

After the game, in which I can assure you that I won and Megan tried to cheat her way to victory, we listened to a few CDs that we had.  Zac Brown Band, The Killers, Coldplay, hillbillies playing the spoons, radio static, really anything we could find.  This is when I dubbed Kansas, the state that you even listen to the bad songs on CDs.

We didn't want to stop for lunch. Sorry, let me rephrase that, there are not any places to stop to eat lunch in Western Kansas so we pulled off at a rest stop and ate some leftovers that we had luckily packed.  Cold pizza and an ice cold coke.  I wondered if people in Western Kansas had refrigerators yet.

When we finally made it to Colorado we commented that the first field of amber waving grain really was beauitful, even majestic looking and then there was another 450 miles of the same stuff. Unfortunately for us, when you enter Colorado you aren't immediately thrown in to snow-capped mountains.  We drove on for another few hours as we were still deciding where to go first.

We had a friend that was going to be in Denver in 3 days and wanted to try to meet up with him and we had Colorado Springs planned for the weekend so we though Boulder would be a fun place to stay and then we could stay there, go to Estes Park or maybe up to Fort Collins to see New Belgium Brewery.  We got on Expedia and found a cheaper but still decent looking hotel in Boulder, plus it served breakfast which is always a great perk to have.  The Rodeway Inn turned out to be a decent place to stay especially for the $55/night fee.

We pulled in to town after getting stuck in Denver traffic under a steady downpour and low hanging clouds.  We couldn't even see the mountains.  But with the summer of 2012 just starting, I believe this was the last rain the Western US had until August.

In downtown Boulder

We checked in to the hotel and unpacked all of our clothes from the car.  We figured out that we needed to utilize a 2 bag system, the overnight bag would be filled with clean clothes that we could access easily and the other large bag would be the dirty clothes and anything waiting to be worn later, which could be on the bottom of everything in the trunk.  I opened my large bag and found that my bottle of Nyquil that I had been taking to fight off a cold had leaked over a handful of clothes.  Annoyed and stressed I began doing a hand washing and ringing of clothes in the shower to get the red liquid and medicine smell out of my belongings.


Being satisfied with my wash and having taken our showers, we deserved to get some dinner and drinks.  We found a few places that according to UrbanSpoon, were right up our alley.  We went to Mountain Sun Brewery first because it was close to where we parked our car and the rain was starting to pick up, little did we know how lucky we were.  The place had a good feel to it and we decided to ask for a table, with a short wait the bar was looking might appealing.  We ordered a couple of pints of some FYIPA and Annapurna Amber and before we knew it we were sitting down at our table.  After being seated, our waiter Dave started answering our questions.  We wanted to taste a few of the beers and he was more than happy to bring us a round of samples to wet our taste buds.

Don't worry about how long this meal is taking to get through, there is a reason for the buildup.

Date Night Burger from Mountain Sun Brewery

The Date Night Burger.  The Date Night Burger is the reason.  I am not one to get caught up in hyperbole, but this was the best burger I have ever had in my life.  It was a big hunk of ground beef, thick bacon, roasted poblano peppers, date puree, and a glob (technical definition) of warm goat cheese.  I still have dreams about how this burger tasted.  I think Megan ordered some food too, excuse me for not remembering, I was in my own little zone.






After dinner, the rain had subsided a bit and we made our way to Walnut Brewery where we tried a few more beers.  We also made a friend at the bar that was there on business and had a heaping plate of mini donuts and was willing to share.  These delicious little morsels came with a chocolate and caramel dipping sauces. Our friend was from Colorado Springs and told us that we must go to Garden of the Gods and that if we were in the area we should try to go to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison out in Western Colorado.  This was exciting to hear because neither Megan nor I had heard of this place until we saw a "National Parks Magazine" in the grocery store and there was a little blurb about the Black Canyon.  We figured that if it was in a magazine and now we also had a personal recommendation from someone kind enough to share her donuts that it must be a place to see.